May The 4th Be With You
 
|
It’s Star Wars Day and I thought I’d post an entry about the very first soundtrack I’ve ever loved independently from the film on which it was featured.
In 1984, my brother bought the original soundtrack for Return Of The Jedi on cassette. And it was incredible. Until then I had loved soundtrack music but never an entire soundtrack from start to end. I had only liked the odd theme from John Barry This soundtrack, which featured The London Symphony Orchestra, included variations of the original Star Wars themes composed by John Williams and new themes like “The Parade Of The Ewoks“, “Luke and Leia“, “Lapti Nek” and the superior “Ewok Celebration” finale. Though I like the new “Celebration” theme, I prefer the original soundtrack and I find “Jedi Rocks” annoying and distracting in the Special Edition Release of the film. Unfortunately the original soundtrack from 1983 and 1990 re-release of this soundtrack are no longer in print. And two of my favorite tracks from this soundtrack, “Lapti Nek” and the “Ewok Celebration” (a.k.a “Yub Nub“) cannot be found on the many re-releases and compilations issued since. Apparently the labels believe these particular pieces are way too dated to include them on their discs, although one can find new and used copies of the 1990 re-release on Amazon.ca Another one of my favorite soundtracks from the franchise is the “Episode I: The Phantom Menace” soundtrack, which was again composed and conducted by John Williams. “Duel Of The Fates” stands out as a theme and the other compositions on this soundtrack are as excellent, regardless of the film’s less than impressive dialogue and characterization. The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack |
, mostly from 
and 
.
released in 1999 and limited, double CD 
released in 2007 are still commonly available in the United States. The 1999 release is also available on